"Ethical Eating: Vegetarian Kids by Katy Abel" What exactly are you saying?

08/20/2008 at 06:12 PM.

"Indeed, many parents worry that a vegetarian lifestyle is unhealthy for kids, and pediatricians offer conflicting advice. Before his death in 1998, the revered baby doctor Benjamin Spock urged parents to rear children after age two on a vegan diet. Dr. Spock, himself a vegetarian, believed meat and dairy could worsen childhood ailments like ear infections, and lead to heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and high blood pressure.

But Dr. Spock's heirs railed against his advice.

"Absolutely insane," Dr. T. Berry Brazelton told the New York Times, insisting that meat and dairy products were essential for healthy development. Experts agree. But to complicate matters still further, the American Dietetic Association weighed in with its support of a vegetarian diet for children.

Jessica R.'s mother Joan, who received a master's degree in nutrition, believes a vegetarian diet can be healthy for kids, but advises other parents to monitor their child's iron intake."

So which is it? First you say that pediatricians offer conflicting advice, then you say that Dr. Spock advocates vegetarianism, then then his heirs rally against that advice to which "experts agree", only to say in the following sentence that the Dietetic Association supports vegetarianism, and finally a nutritionist says vegetarianism is ok. So what exactly are you trying to say in this whole article?

This article should be removed, it lacks cogency, or any real scientific knowledge. The most charitable thesis I can surmise is: that some kids are choosing to be vegetarian and this is irritating their parents because now they actually have to pay attention to their children's dietary intake. Speaking as a parent, I suppose it would be irritating to have to care about my children's diet, if I didn't already.

The title of this article is confusing. Why is the word "Ethical" in the title? Is the author suggesting that eating meat is unethical? Maybe "Healthy Eating" would be more appropriate. As for ethical eating, I am all for it. I try and feed my family wild game more than store bought meat. Bison, antelope, venison, elk, and fresh salmon to name a few. Wild game, never treated with antibiotics, or growth hormones, which has lived it's life feeding in its natural habitat. Thats ethical, and healthy eating.

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